Teams racing small boat:
Australia Open
Taiwan Open and Women
Hong Kong Open and Women
Iran Open
Russia Open and Mixed
Sweden Open and Mixed
Thailand Women

Thus far, this isn't shaping up to be a more widely participated Worlds than Tampa. Are there political factors involved?

Anonymous

Re: No Tahiti at 2013 Worlds

June 19 2013, 9:32 AM

Definitely more teams that Tampa overall, no? As for Premier, the Small Boat category is taking away some participation in the Large Boat category. But almost all of the Large Boat Premier entries are the top countries in the world, so the Small Boat category (for the most part) weeds out the weaker teams from the Premier category anyway.

I still don't like the Small Boat category.

Anonymous

Re: No Tahiti at 2013 Worlds

June 19 2013, 9:38 AM

Not sure if this is up-to-date, but Austrailia is not putting an Open team together? Or the Philipines... thats not good. Could be a funding issue,

this Tahiti factor would've been exciting to see. Lots of hype but noone can really draw any solid conclusions, because theres no head to head comparisons!

Anonymous

Re: No Tahiti at 2013 Worlds

June 19 2013, 9:59 AM

You can derive head to head from Asian and Euro Championships results.

Anonymous

Re: No Tahiti at 2013 Worlds

June 19 2013, 11:16 AM

For an established country like Australia to enter Premier Small boat they would have needed to demonstrate financial exigency just as the Filos needed to do in Tampa when they lost their funding source. Anyone who has looked into it knows that the costs of going to Hungary is very high. I would assume travel from Australia would be hugely expensive same for Tahiti.

Anonymous

Re: No Tahiti at 2013 Worlds

June 19 2013, 5:42 PM

There's something really weird going on with the Australian entries. They entered Large Boats in almost every division EXCEPT Premier Open. Large boats in Premier Women, Premier Mixed, ALL Senior A's, ALL Senior C's and most of Senior B. Small boat in Premier Open.

Anonymous

Re: No Tahiti at 2013 Worlds

June 19 2013, 5:49 PM

They decided only 12 premier male paddlers are good enough to represent their country, sounds logical

anonymous

Aus prem opens

June 19 2013, 9:04 PM

I am an Australian dragon boater but I am not paddling at the world champs. I haven't spoken to every male paddler under 40 in Australia so this is only an educated opinion of why there is only a small boat crew in prem opens.

The main reason is just not enough guys wanting to take a few weeks of work for competing and training camps as well as spending the money on the campaign. It just happened to be in premier open rather than any other category.

Another reason is this and it also explains their poor performance in Tampa. The best male paddlers in Australia didn't do world champs in Tampa and only some did Prague. Generally speaking the best won't paddle for the current Australian coach who has been the coach since post Prague. I don't want to put forward negative opinions of the coach because not everyone feels that way about him. Many think he's wonderful. I don't.

The best male paddlers are mostly within a few clubs and they are not putting themselves forward for selection, again probably because of the coach. The guys who are doing it are mostly from other clubs and are mostly not up to the standard of the guys from the top clubs. Even though dragon boating has grown in Australia the number of males under 40 doing it is pretty small when you look at the total demographic. It's become somewhat of a 40s+ sport in Australia. That is another factor. The pool of guys under 40 is limited and even more limited is the pool of talented guys under 40.

The standard of the 10s crew would see them get smashed in 20s if they had another 10 guys of the same standard. Probably moreso than the Tampa crew even.

Anonymous

Re: No Tahiti at 2013 Worlds

June 19 2013, 10:10 PM

Thanks for the insight, Aussie friend. Sounds like the main reason for the poor showing in Hungary by the Australian Premier Open is the dislike of the coach. Are there different coaches for the Premier Women and Premier Mixed?

Anonymous

Re: No Tahiti at 2013 Worlds

June 19 2013, 10:34 PM

The best current aussie male paddlers exist within a few clubs in Sydney (City Dragons, Pacific Dragons and the sloths). 99% of these guys aren't in the Australian team and weren't in it in Prague because of a fairly poor perception of the current Australian coach.

These guys prefer (particularly City Dragons and Pacific Dragons) to do the CCWC competition every second year, and on every other year they save their money and annual leave at work for the following CCWC.

The lack of a large boat entry for Premier Opens should speak volumes about the current state of coaching at the national level, but as usual politics and allegiances will more than likely get in the way of any real change.

When you consider that the current coach is paid a hefty annual salary to coach, you have to wonder why he's being paid if he can't field a large boat Premier Opens crew.

Anonymous

Re: No Tahiti at 2013 Worlds

June 19 2013, 11:15 PM

To the Aussie: Our paddlers have the same problems with our coaches, we understand

anonymous

coaches

June 20 2013, 2:31 AM

The Aus team has a head coach. Then a division coach. So 1 premier coach, 1 senior A coach etc.

The division coaches are ruled by the head coach. At training camps the head coach does most of the coaching. The division coach coaches under the guidance of the head coach. The session plans and technique all come from the head coach.

We can all have our ideas on what technique is better etc. As long as your stroke has the right fundamentals different technqiues can all be effective. But the Aus coach lacks in other areas. Basic lack of understanding on physiology. In other words what outcomes on the body certain types of training will deliver. Also transparency.

I am reasonably confident that there are far more qualified coaches in Canada than Austrlaia. In Australia you could count them on one hand and still maybe not use all five fingers. By this I mean coaches who coach based on science, not just gut feeling with nothing to back it up. And pick crews based on ability to move a boat fast and for sustained periods of time. In other words get the boat from A to B as fast as possible.

Anonymous

Re: No Tahiti at 2013 Worlds

June 20 2013, 5:49 AM

Another joke of a world championship! I am wasting my money going to hungary D:

Re: No Tahiti at 2013 Worlds

June 20 2013, 8:04 AM

"By this I mean coaches who coach based on science, not just gut feeling with nothing to back it up."

This sounds ideal but not all crews in Canada believe in this. One coach I know used the Excalibur for selection and it came out with results that weren't expected by the crew. When the team didn't do well they fired the coach in part for using it.

Really depends on the members of the team and what they deem "right"

Anonymous

Re: No Tahiti at 2013 Worlds

June 20 2013, 8:17 AM

Bulletin #2 is outdated. Bulletin #3 is correct. #3 has not been posted on the IDBF website yet, but it is being circulated through the coaches.

Anonymous

Re: No Tahiti at 2013 Worlds

June 20 2013, 8:30 AM

"Another joke of a world championship! I am wasting my money going to hungary D:"

I disagree. The teams who are entering the Large Boat divisions are likely the best teams around. The Small Boat division allows teams that do not have the talent for a competitive Large Boat entry a chance to compete with "Small Boats." So Small Boats are really just the "B Division" at the Worlds.

Money, you might argue, could be a factor preventing some countries from sending crews that could medal in the Large Boat Premier divisions. But I doubt money is a cause because teams like China and Macau found enough money to enter teams in all Large Boat Premier divisions. Aside from Philippines (turn apart by political, not financial, problems), what other competitive country is really missing from the Premier division?

It would have been nice to see what Tahiti could do, but we don't know how good of a dragon boat team they had been organizing. We don't know if they had their best outrigger paddlers in those few video of the Tahitian dragon boat team we saw.